There’s truth in all those statements, or at least there’s a happy medium somewhere in there. If a whistle helped you meet and make a lifelong friend, then obviously its value defies quantification. However, if a whistle costing $X got you a gig that paid $3X, then that is quantifiable.
I own a Susato Low D.
I own a Burke Brass Viper.
The Burke is worth a hundred times the Susato…to me.
It’s like the difference between a tan and a sunburn.
(My MK Low D, Copeland Low D, and other Burkes are equally superior.)
(To me, natch. I’m the only me I have, to judge these things…)
Hi all,
Just a thought, but how much would even the smallest of businesses need to earn per hour to survive these days, with all overheads?
If you work it out there’s not really many hours to make the whistle in.
I can go and buy a suit for myself that looks good and fits pretty good too.
But if i had the money, i could have one tailored to fit.
In Dublin Ohio last August I was able to play all the whistles Mike Burke had on display from hi D to low D. I tried brass, aluminum, and composite. They were all fantastic. I bough a brass session D. Two weeks earlier I saw Joanie at Cleveland. She played Burk whistles for every tune but one. That one was an ORiordan. Al of the Burkes were aluminum. I asked her after the show why she had aluminum instead of brass. She said I prefer them. My Albas, Burke and Humphreys are my favorite whistles. The one I play most often is an old Feadog brass D held together with super glue and tape.
It is therefore not helpful to make any comments about one maker having a “factory” or a “production line” implying that anything made using such methods are suspect in some way of deceiving the buyer into thinking that the instruments are more worthy of their price than those made in a different way, or that they may be no different than other mass produced whistles that are not in any way hand voiced.
What I said was entirely based on your own description of the process:
I used ‘assembly line’ with the exactl meaning of the word in mind: putting together pre-manufactured parts, as from your description of the manufacturing process is exactly what you do. I set this off against the image painted in the post I was responding to: that of the single artisan tailoring a whistle for a particular buyer. I also emphasised ‘not that it matters’ because I don’t think it matters how the end result is reached. I did want to make clear not every expensive whistle is lovingly and individually handcrafted, a mistaken notion that is pretty much alive on the forums.
Nowhere did I say or imply the process would somehow be suspect and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t put words in my mouth I didn’t use or imply I said something I didn’t.
I do think there are much cheaper and for my own use much more suitable alternatives to Burke whistles and have never made a secret of that opinion. I also think everybody can make their own decisions where whistle buying is concerned and I didn’t enter the value for money discussion, neither directly or by implication.
[edited for a bit of clarification]
I respectfully agree with Peter Lablan that Mr. Burke took it a bit too personally and reacted a bit too much negatively. I did not expect that.
Mr.Burke, all of us are potential customers, let us have a free discussion.
You know that we all respect your work.
Guys, unless the maker gets his say as well, it’s not a free discussion.
–James
Ofcourse it is. Founded opinions can be aired freely.
I think that if I were a whistle craftsperson and I had invested a great deal of time, energy and heart, not to mention a considerable amount of money for startup (a shop, tools, materials, etc.) into honing a craft and had built a good reputation for myself, I might possibly take it personally too if I felt I’d been personally attacked or misrepresented in any way. I’m not necessarily implying that I think anything offensive has been posted in this thread, but being sensitive to what is said is probably human nature.
Our whistle builders must surely feel very vulnerable to what may be posted here. Negative comments are not only potentially damaging to a business, but probably a blow to the heart and the ego for a maker who takes pride in what he has created and achieved. It surely takes a thicker skin than I’d ever have.
I didn’t hear the negativity.
His post was, imho, a good clarification of type of machine-work crafting a whistle might entail.
Anyway, I will say that I value my “craftsperson” whistles (Alba, Burke, Sindt, Overton, Laughing, Weasel) because of the craftspersonship and the personality of the maker which is somehow (at least in my mind) expressed in the making.
It’s very personal. I would never make the argument to someone else that expensive whistles are “better” than mass-produced. It is, when you come right down to it, a whistle. You’ll like what you like, and value what you value, and a $5 instrument can be as right for one as a $200 instrument is for another. 'Tis ultimately what you make (or play) of it.
It certainly 'Tis! 
Does a higher price mean a better whistle?
That depends almost entirely on what you want out of the whistle, doesn’t it?
If we are just buying for the name, we probably don’t really know whistles enough to be judging. People who think the price of the whistle makes the player are often disappointed in even the best whistles, while people who are not familiar with the differences and individual characteristics are often very impressed with relative cheapies. Individual taste plays a great deal in the choices, so an overall quantifying of quality is difficult to come up with.
Buying a high priced whistle won’t make you any better a whistle player, though it might just make it much more pleasant for you to practice and for others around you to tolerate your practice. The main impediment to a good sounding whistle is still the player, afterall.
Paying more for a whistle won’t automatically guarantee that you get a better whistle, but if you choose a known and respected maker, you will pretty much guarantee that you will either get a very good whistle that you will like, or be able to either return it to the maker for refund or trade, or sell it for what you paid for it.
The price of the whistle reflects not just the (constantly rising) cost of the materials, but the time, study and effort of the maker. If the maker makes a fine instrument and then discovers ways to make that same quality more standard or easier to maintain in higher quantities, it still won’t be cheap. If they feel that maintaining a hands-on approach for the design and finishing, but know that getting the basics done by someone else will not only save them time and effort, but not adversely affect the finished outcome, they pay for that. It is all reflected in what they charge - time is money, after all, and we are asking for their best efforts. Those that do it all themselves really probably ought to charge even more than they do now.
Looking at a tube of metal with some lumpy, holey bits, maybe even some plastic, doesn’t easily equate in our minds or wallets with a couple of hundred dollars US… however, looking at hours of effort, years of experience, exacting work and reliable product, comes a whole lot closer to comfort with the price tag.
There are many players who opt for high end whistles. If they care about the sound rather than the name, there must be some good reasons for them to choose those whistles, and it is likely because they know they will get an instrument that will sound the way they want it to, will do what they want to do with it, and will match the quality they require.
On the other hand, whistles, even the expensive ones, are comparatively quite inexpensive. Just be glad you don’t have to have different guitars for each couple of keys, or, wow… a harp. 
Annie, yours is a great and very balanced point of view.
I believe that Phil Hardy pionereed a new interesting way to build whistles:
I understand that he was the first (tell me if I am wrong) to think about offering high end manufactured whistles at a lower price, trying to reach the best of two worlds: a very good whistle, still relatively affordable. The success of the Chieftain range of whistle proves that he opened a new market.
Yes he still offers a hand made more expensive whistle (the Kerry Pro) that I am told sounds and looks similar to the Overton. But he made available high-end whistles to a target of customers who could not afford to buy a Burke or an Overton or a Copeland.
His Kerry low D, which has an aluminum tube and an ABS mouthpiece, currently cost, included shipping , 65 pounds. That is, at current exchange rate, less than 100 dollars. This is the price you pay for a Susato or a Dixon plastic low D. A Chieftain low D non tunable can be bought from Lark in the Morning for $ 170.00.
Now the subject of the discussion could be: is it better a whistle who is CNC machined or a whistle entirely built by hand ?
Bob Taylor, from Taylor guitars, was one of the first to build his guitars with CNC machines and still kept the quality of the productr extremely high…
I actually don’t care how a whistle is made.
I just likes me whistle how I likes me whistle.
And, as fate would have it, I like the more expensive Low Whistles.
If fate has YOU favoring the cheap whistles…then God Bless Ye…you just saved yourself some dough.
Somewhere along the line, I became simple-minded.
Think I’ll go whistle…
Great post! 
You cut straight to the heart of it.
–James
I’ll know more on the subject after the coming giftie holiday.
There is one factor in this discussion that has not been mentioned - So I’ll be the scapegoat:
Anything produced in a “short run” is more expensive.
Whistles are not hambergers. From a manufacturing perspective, the demand for whistles is low - If you were to compare it on a graph against, say Coca Cola .. and lets say you put the graph on a sheet of A4 paper (portrait) then there is not a pen on planet earth thin enough to show whistle demand above the baseline.
Simple supply-and-demand states that price should increase as demand increases. If demand is greater than supply, then the price goes up, if supply is greater than demand then price goes down.
From the supply end of the equation, The LOWEST price is determined by cost of manufacture plus cost of sales. After cost of materials and cost of tooling (amortisiation) are subtracted you are left with cost of labor - that is determined by standard of living. Whistle makers typically enjoy a low standard of living.
From the demand end of the equation, the LOWEST price is determined by quality - if the whistle does not play, then the demand goes to zero.
As with all things, the boundary-zone of simple equations contain chaos - the demand for whistles dwells in that pencil-line defining the boundary of the supply/demand equation. In all things chaotic, the formula can be known, but the result cannot be calculated by modern machinery - we must use a more traditional calculator: instinct/intuition/gut-feel.
If ever we see the demand for whistles enter the graph, I think a lot of the magic will be lost.
In the mean time, discussing the price of whistles is like goating an anvil - a little more, a little less, the bicicle either goes green or … not.
(Edited to say: According to the supply/demand formula, whistle makers do not exist - life is a wonderful thing)
It was asked several times early on if you get three times as good a whistle for paying three times as much. I don’t think of the pricing as standard intervals of $5 a piece all the way up the scale where 1 unit of value is equal to $1, so something costing three times as much must be three times as valuable.
I think once you reach a certain point, the level of experience and skill to get you above that point becomes worth more at each subsequent interval. So the interval of difference is smaller while the price is larger because getting those small quantities of improvement are harder to achieve. The fine tweaks that really make an exceptional instrument soar cost a whole lot more than the basic construction that makes it play. Those who value that small difference then have to pay for the level of skill involved in achieving it.
In no way does that say that lower cost instruments are awful. It means they can get pretty darned close a lot of the time. It also means when a person becomes frustrated with the limitations of the lower cost instrument, his only alternative is to pay more to break that threshold of commonality.
That’s my thought process anyway.
Katie
There are instruments where an inexpensive instrument can hold you back.
Whistle, in my opinion, really isn’t one of these instruments; not only is it possible to become a very advanced player with a ten dollar (or thereabouts) whistle, lots and lots of people have done just that.
Now I think there are perfectly valid reasons to get a high-end whistle…but I don’t think the idea that a cheap whistle “holds you back” is really a very valid one.
If something’s holding you back, it’s probably not the whistle.
You know, there is actually a lot to be said for waiting until you reach a certain level of proficiency before you start thinking seriously about an expensive instrument: you’ll have a much better idea what you are wanting from it, and you’ll be able to make a much more educated decision as to which whistle(s) meet your needs.
–James
That is true.